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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1387217

Assessing the relationship between levator palpebrae superioris and thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy using Dixon-T2WI sequence

Provisionally accepted
Dan Liu Dan Liu Yongbo Duan Yongbo Duan Kai Huang Kai Huang Cheng Song Cheng Song Yufeng Ouyang Yufeng Ouyang Xiaoxin Lin Xiaoxin Lin Jie Shen Jie Shen *Haixiong Chen Haixiong Chen *
  • Shunde Hospital, Southern Medical University, Foshan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The current clinical practice lacks sufficient objective indicators for evaluating thyroidassociated ophthalmopathy (TAO). This study aims to quantitatively assess TAO by evaluating levator palpebrae superioris (LPS) using Dixon-T2WI.The retrospective study included 231 eyes (119 patients) in TAO group and 78 eyes (39 volunteers) in normal group. Dixon-T2WI provided data on maximum thickness of LPS (LPS_T) and signal intensity ratio (LPS_SIR) between the muscle and ipsilateral brain white matter. TAO diagnosis and assessment of its activity and severity were quantitatively determined using LPS_T and LPS_SIR.In the TAO group, LPS_T and LPS_SIR were higher than those in the normal group (P < 2.2e-16). The upper lid retraction (ULR) ≥ 2 mm group exhibited higher LPS_T and LPS_SIR compared to the ULR < 2 mm and normal groups. Optimal diagnostic performance was achieved with AUC of 0.91 for LPS_T (cut-off: 1.505 mm) and 0.81 for LPS_SIR (cut-off: 1.170). LPS_T (P = 2.8e-07) and LPS_SIR (P = 3.9e-12) in the active phase were higher than in the inactive phase. LPS_T and LPS_SIR showed differences among the mild, moderate-to-severe, and sight-threatening groups (P < 0.05). ROC showed AUC of 0.70 for LPS_T (cut-off: 2.095 mm) in judging the active phase, and 0.78 for LPS_SIR (cut-off: 1.129). For judging moderate-to-severe and above, AUC was 0.76 for LPS_T (cut-off: 2.095 mm), and 0.78 for LPS_SIR (cut-off: 1.197).The maximum thickness and SIR of LPS provide imaging indicators for assisting in the diagnosis and quantitative evaluation of TAO.

    Keywords: Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, Levator palpebrae superioris muscle, Dixon-T2WI magnetic resonance imaging, Condition Assessment, Quantitative evaluation

    Received: 17 Feb 2024; Accepted: 30 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Duan, Huang, Song, Ouyang, Lin, Shen and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Jie Shen, Shunde Hospital, Southern Medical University, Foshan, China
    Haixiong Chen, Shunde Hospital, Southern Medical University, Foshan, China

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